''Melody of Love'' is a 1928 American

romantic drama film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

produced and distributed by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

, directed by

Arch Heath Arch Heath (July 15, 1890 – January 7, 1945), also known as A. B. Heath and Arch B. Heath, was an American film director and screenwriter whose career spanned from the era of silent films to the 1940s. He helped pioneer the introduction of the s ...

, which starred

Walter Pidgeon Walter Davis Pidgeon (September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984) was a Canadian-American actor. He earned two Academy Award for Best Actor nominations for his roles in '' Mrs. Miniver'' (1942) and ''Madame Curie'' (1943). Pidgeon also starred in ...

and

Mildred Harris Mildred Harris (April 18, 1901 – July 20, 1944) was an American stage, film, and vaudeville actress during the early part of the 20th century. Harris began her career in the film industry as a child actress when she was 10 years old. She was a ...

, each their first sound film. Historically significant as Universal's first 100% all-talkie, the production suffered from having a tight shooting schedule.

Carl Laemmle Carl Laemmle (; born Karl Lämmle; January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939) was a film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films. Regarded as one of the most important o ...

was only able to rent the

Fox Movietone Movietone News is a newsreel that ran from 1928 to 1963 in the United States. Under the name British Movietone News, it also ran in the United Kingdom from 1929 to 1986, in France also produced by Fox-Europa, in Australia and New Zealand until 197 ...

sound-on-film Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog ...

recording system for one week, having to be filmed at night while the Fox Studio was closed down for the evenings.

Plot

When

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

breaks out, Jack Clark (

), a

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It origin ...

songwriter in love with chorus girl Flo Thompson (

Jane Winton Jane Winton (October 10, 1905 – September 22, 1959) was an American film actress, dancer, opera soprano, writer, and painter. Early years Winton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1905. The deaths of her father when she was four yea ...

), enlists in the Army with his pal Lefty ( Tom Dugan) and is sent to France, where they spend their time plunking out tunes while enemy shells whiz past their head. There, Jack meets Madelon (

), a little French singer who falls madly in love with him. Eventually, a stray bullet hits Jack during combat and loses the use of his right arm, rendering him unable to wield a pencil to write music or play a piano. He is sent home back to the United States, and upon his return, he is jilted by his former sweetheart Flo and when she senses that Jack isn't going to be much of a gravy train, she sends him packing and Jack becomes a derelict. Madelon, in the meantime, crosses the ocean and finds work singing in a cabaret; Jack finds her by chance and, in his excitement at seeing her once again, recovers the use of the arm. As he sits down at the piano to play for Madelon, Jack knows that he has at last found the woman of his dreams, and Jack writes a hit song dedicated to her.

Cast

as Jack Clark *

as Madelon *

as Flo Thompson *

Tommy Dugan Tom Dugan (1 January 1889 – 7 March 1955) was an Irish-American film actor. He appeared in more than 260 films between 1927 and 1955. He was born in Dublin, Ireland and died in Redlands, California, after injuries sustained in a road accid ...

as Lefty * Jack Richardson as Music publisher *

Victor Potel Victor Potel (October 12, 1889 – March 8, 1947) was an American film character actor who began in the silent era and appeared in more than 430 films in his 38-year career. Career Victor Potel was born in Lafayette, Indiana in 1889, and hi ...

as The Gawk *Flynn O'Malley as The Sergeant

Preservation status

No full copies of ''Melody of Love'' are known to exist, so this film is considered to be lost, although an incomplete print may exist.''Melody of Love'' at silentera.com
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References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Melody of Love 1920s American films 1920s English-language films 1928 films 1928 lost films 1928 romantic drama films American black-and-white films American romantic drama films Films directed by Arch Heath Lost American films Lost romantic drama films Universal Pictures films